You’re on the couch, cuddling with your fur baby, eating your favorite ice cream. Your pup continues to eye that spoon as it exits the bowl and heads toward your mouth. You feel guilty. You think, “Can dogs eat ice cream? Can’t they have a few bites?”

You decide not to feed your pup any of the ice cream, and figure you’ll sleep on it. You go to bed that night and find yourself in an ice cream dream. An ice cream dream that’s very informative.

You Awake

From your slumber. An Ice Cream fairy prances around, leading your dog on their leash. You have no time to question the veracity of what your eyes behold. You merely accept it. The fairy motions back to you, “Follow meeeeee,” her voice echoes in halls formed of mint chocolate chip.

As you follow her, you notice your dog attempting to lick the creamy walls. “No!” Shouts the fairy, “Dogs cannot eat ice cream!”

“What?” You ask, “Why not?”

“It will all be clear when we reach the ice cream king,” the fairy says, waving her wand in one hand while keeping a firm grasp on the leash in the other.

You don’t know what the heck is going on, but you keep reading. Er, I mean dreaming.

Can Dogs Eat Ice Cream? The Ice King Tells All

Your visit with the ice king is pleasant and informative. He tells you that your dog’s body was not designed to consume very much milk. That they have trouble digesting dairy products like ice cream.

Because of your dog’s difficulties with dairy, he says that feeding your fur baby ice cream leads to potential problems like gas, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. “Bad stuff,” he says, “Bad stuff.”

You ask, “But can dogs eat ice cream that’s lactose free?”

“No!” he says, rumbling the ice cream palace walls. He goes on to tell you that even lactose-free ice cream is not safe for your dog’s consumption. It’s not safe because ice cream is still loaded with sugar, and your dog does not need sugar.

He goes on, talking about how dogs do not require as much sugar in their diets. And how they don’t digest it as well as humans.

You think, “Wow. This article, er, I mean king, is very informative.” Then you go on to ask about sugar-free, lactose-free ice creams and insist that there’s such a thing.

The king tells you that even sugar-free ice creams pose a risk to your dog’s health. He warns you of the dangers of the artificial sweetener, xylitol, and how it creates issues with blood sugar because dogs are unable to digest it.

“Be wary of the xylitol,” he says.

You take his words to heart, promising never to feed your dog the dangerous chemical.

Before you can thank the king he says, “You need not to thank me. Instead, go find your dog some human foods that are healthy for your pup’s consumption.”

You Awake Once More

This time in a familiar space. You rise from your comfy bed and rub your eyes, wondering what it was you just dreamed.

As it turns out, your dream consisted of you reading an article. An article written by a mad man on a dog blogging website that told you about a dream you were having.

You walk to your bathroom and think, “I’ve gotta lay off the melatonin. But hey, at least I now know the answer to the question: can dogs eat ice cream?”